Notre Dame AD Pete Bevacqua on impetus for Marcus Freeman extension: 'Perfect time to do it'
SOUTH BEND — Pete Bevacqua, not quite nine months into his term as Notre Dame athletic director, saw no reason to delay a contract extension for football coach Marcus Freeman until after the College Football Playoff.
No additional data points were needed, even with fifth-ranked Notre Dame (11-1) set to welcome 10th-seeded Indiana (11-1) on Friday night in a first-round playoff game.
“In talking with Marcus and primarily with his agent, Clint Dowdle, I just felt like it made sense,” Bevacqua said Tuesday in a 45-minute news conference on a wide range of topics. “The regular season has ended. Let’s get this done before the playoff game. Let’s put it to rest.”
The former NBC Sports chairman, noting there are “no carve-outs” regarding potential overtures from the NFL or “any other colleges,” was able to complete negotiations in time for an announcement on NBC’s Sunday Night Football.
Three years into his original deal, Freeman is now under contract through the 2030 season, a Notre Dame official confirmed.
Should Freeman, who turns 39 next month, coach through the duration of his new contract, his nine-year head coaching tenure would rank sixth in program history.
Knute Rockne’s 13 seasons remain the standard. Brian Kelly held the job for 12 years (2010-21), and Lou Holtz, Ara Parseghian and Frank Leahy each coached 11 seasons in South Bend.
“Coach Freeman couldn’t be more excited about staying at Notre Dame,” Bevacqua said. “This looked like the perfect time to do it without it all being a distraction to him.”
Avoiding distraction ahead of College Football Playoff
Not even the dreaded coaching-extension jinx could dissuade the parties from going public with the agreement.
Indiana’s lone loss this season, 38-15 at Ohio State last month, came seven days after its administration tore up Curt Cignetti’s six-year, $27 million deal and replaced it with an eight-year agreement through 2032 that could reach $72 million in salary and retention bonuses.
Freeman’s deal, which reportedly pushes his average salary close to eight figures annually, was announced five days before the first on-campus playoff game in FBS history.
“He is 100% focused on Friday night,” Bevacqua said. “Just wanted to get it done, wanted to get it done quickly, wanted to get it done in a way that made him happy and made him happy about his staff. … And obviously in a way that works for Notre Dame.”
The bulk of Freeman’s input in the contract talks, Bevacqua said, centered around maintaining a strong pay structure for the Irish assistant coaches and support staff.
“Every conversation I had with him about the future and his future here, it was never about him,” Bevacqua said. “It was always about the program, his assistant coaches, making sure we would have the resources to keep and to attract the very best assistant coaches in the country. … I think we have a ton of momentum.”
Bevacqua, who spent the 2023 football season as the AD-in-waiting, made the decision in consultation with first-year university President Rev. Bob Dowd and newly appointed Board of Trustees chair John Viehmeyer.
“It’s something I wanted to do and have been thinking about all year,” Bevacqua said. “(Freeman) is our coach. Notre Dame wants him to be our coach for the foreseeable future. This isn’t about any game or any stretch of games. He is the right person to be our head coach for on-the-field and off-the-field reasons.”
Now 30-9 at the helm and riding a 10-game winning streak since the Sept. 7 home loss to Northern Illinois, Freeman still finds time to cheer courtside for Notre Dame men’s and women’s basketball.
Top-12 recruiting classes have become an annual occurrence under Freeman, who had no head coaching experience when former AD Jack Swarbrick promoted him in December 2021 after one season as the Irish defensive coordinator.
“The two most visible representatives of Notre Dame are our president and our head football coach,” Bevacqua said. “When you think about Coach Freeman, there’s no better representative of Notre Dame. He’s so authentic, so sincere. Everything that makes Notre Dame different and special and some would say maybe harder, he embraces and uses that as an advantage and as a differentiator.”
All of those factors led to a relatively seamless process.
“When two groups want to do something,” Bevacqua said, “it’s usually easy to figure out.”
Mike Berardino covers Notre Dame football for the South Bend Tribune and NDInsider.com. Follow him on social media @MikeBerardino.